Yoruba Hometowns: Community, Identity, and Development in Nigeria

5 “We Love Ourselves Abroad”:
Hometown Organizations
and Their Members

The May 1992 meeting of the Ilesa Social Elite took place at the Lagos
residence of one of its members, Ayo Oni, an accountant. The members
gathered at about 4:30 in the afternoon; as they arrived, they began to
take seats in the rows of metal chairs that had been set up in an outdoor
area that was covered by a canopy. Beer and soft drinks were served,
and the men, all in their fifties and sixties, greeted one another warmly
and chatted among themselves. By the time the meeting began, around
5 P. M., about twenty members had arrived; more came later, with about
thirty attending in all. During the business meeting, the officers—president, past president, general secretary, and publicity secretary—sat at
a table facing the chairs. The meeting, which was conducted in
English, began with a reading of the minutes of the last meeting. Then
the men discussed their current project, the building of a maternity
ward for the Wesley Guild Hospital in Ilesa, and the importance of
making their contributions. They then considered a set of recommendations about the group's clubhouse in Ilesa. After lengthy discussion of
these issues, the president made some announcements, then adjourned
the meeting at 7:30 P. M.

As soon as the meeting ended, food and drinks were served; a few
people moved into the house to eat, but most stayed outside while they
ate pounded yam and visited with one another. After everyone ate, the
president called all inside the house to thank the host and his wife. The
president made a brief speech thanking Mrs. Oni, then told her husband to sit next to her while the members all sang “For he's a jolly
good fellow. ” Most members departed soon afterward.

On the evening of April 5, 1997, following the coronation of the
new oba of Iloko, the Iloko Women's Forum met in the entrance court-

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